People's Democracy

THE Students Federation of India’s (SFI) Manipur state committee organised the historic second state-level girl students convention on November 10 at the Conference Hall of Hotel Mass, in state capital Imphal. The hall was named after Comrade Anand who died this September. On this occasion the entire Assembly Road was decorated with SFI flags, banners, posters and festoons. The convention was organised after 4 years since the first girl students convention in 1996.

The convention opened with floral tributes at the martyrs column. Gunapati Bashpatimayum, convenor of the organising committee, delivered the welcome address at the inaugural session while Professor Kshetri Bimola, former head of Department of Political Science in Manipur University, was the chief guest. H Ibetombi Devi, acting president of the SFI state committee, Professor Rose Manshi of the Department of Political Science in G P Women’s College, and N Nirpen Singh, secretary of the Manipur Students Federation in 1952, were the guests of honour.

The inaugural speech was delivered by A Ibemcha Chanu, state secretary of the SFI and also its CEC member. In her speech she clearly mentioned the necessity of holding the convention in today’s situation for chalking out new strategies for girl students’ struggle. She also spoke about the government policies, the black laws and their impact on women. The session was also addressed by Chinglen Maishnam, former president of the SFI state committee. He detailed the pro-capitalist policies of the central government, the step-motherly treatment being meted out to the resourceless north eastern states like Manipur, and its impact on the weaker sections of the society.

Professor Ksh Bimola’s speech stressed the problems faced by the women of Manipur. She clearly indicated the problems of tribal and Muslim women in Manipur society. In his speech, Nirpen recalled the student movement and struggles during the 1950s, when more and more girls came out to participate in the student movement. The presidential speech by Ibetombi outlined the wider perspective of movement in the state. The inaugural session concluded with the vote of thanks by Ashabala Devi.

The delegates session was attended by 71 delegates, among them 9 from the tribal community. The presidium comprised H Ibetombi Devi, Ch Kamala Devi and Ph Hemalata Devi. A Ibemcha Chanu, Gunapati B and A Ashabala Devi were the members of the steering committee while N Sandhyarai and Sarmila Devi were in the minutes committee.

Gunapati B and A Ashabala Devi, convenors, placed the draft reports on international and national issues respectively for discussion. A Ibemcha Chanu placed a draft report on the Manipur and central governments. Special discussions were organised on the newly promulgated POTO and the customary laws regarding women. Out of the 71 delegates, 11 participated in the discussion. The charter included 7 demands:

1. Scrap Armed Force Special Power Act 1958, in force in Manipur.
2. Scrap the POTO.
3. Stop the exploitation and oppression of girl students.
4. Free education for girl students upto XII standard.
5. Allocate 30 per cent of the state budget for education.
6. Hostels for tribal, Muslim and rural girl students.
7. Stop the projection of women as objects of lust immediately.

The important resolutions passed about the socio-political and other issues demanded ---

• Constitution of a state level women’s commission immediately.
• Issuance of a white paper on the present economic crisis by the Manipur government.
• Ban on exhibition of films that are against the accepted social ethics, obscene posters, audio and visual cassettes, magazines, etc, which derogate the status of women.

The convention also demanded that the genuine demands of the striking employees must be met. It also strongly condemned the raid on a female health workers’ hostel by an exclusively male BSF team. The convention decided to launch a mass campaign against eve teasing.

The convention concluded after having elected a girl students sub-committee comprising 19 members, with A Ibemcha Chanu as chairperson and A Ashabala Devi as convenor.